Drone applications on the rise

This article is more than 12 months old

Feb 13, 2015 06:00 am

Between 20 and 30 per cent of 70 applications for permits to fly drones in Singapore were rejected last month, said Senior Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo in Parliament yesterday.

They were rejected mainly because of safety as there was the risk of manned aircraft flying nearby, she said.

The rejections follow a boom in the number of applications for drones in January, which increased sixfold from the average of 12 per month last year, reported The Straits Times Online.

Unmanned aircraft weighing 7kg or less require a permit from the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) if they are flown within 5km of an aerodrome, or at an altitude higher than 200 feet above mean sea level outside 5km of an aerodrome.

The Ministry of Transport and the CAAS, along with other Government ministries and agencies, have also started a review of the regulatory framework for drones. It will address the increasing use of unmanned aircraft and the safety and security concerns that come with it.